Kingdom – Protozoa or Protista
Phylum – Foraminifera (Forams)
1) Order Fusilinida (Fusilinids)
2) Genus Nummulites
Note: Forams have been included
in both the Protozoa kingdom or
the Protista kingdom and you will
find variation in the books.
Forams are small (usually less than 1 mm) shelled aquatic species. There are over
10,000 known species. Most are benthic and marine, but pelagic and fresh-water species
do exist. The larger forams are excellent index fossils for both age and environment for
much of geologic time as their form and structure continuously evolved. They are used
in oil industry research in understanding geologic environment of drilled strata.
Fusulinida is an extinct order of Foraminifera that
lived from the Silurian until the Permian Periods of
the Paleozoic Era. They tests (shells) were
composed of tightly packed microgranular calcite.
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Genus Nummulites - A genus of relatively large (0.5-2 inches)
modern recent forams found in Eocene to Miocene rocks. The
pyramids in Egypt are constructed of fossiliferous limestone full
of Nummulites
Horizontally bisected
1 inch
Kingdom – ANIMALIA
Phylum – Porifera (Sponges)
3) Genus Astraeospongia
4) Genus Hydnoceras
Sponges are the simplest of animals, lacking tissues or organs.
However, sponge cells are integrated and organized for filter
feeding, waste deposal, reproduction, and secreting a calcite
base that fixes the anchors the animal to substrate. The
skeletal structure is often comprised of silica and forms
protective spicules. Sponges get their name from the fact that
their unicellular food is not taken into a single mouth. It is
filtered out of water that passes through many pores,
connected by canals, in their bodies. The food is digested by
cells that line the pores and canals. The undigested food and
water are expelled through the osculum, a large opening at the
top of the animal.
Genus Astraeospongia
Genus Hydnoceras
• Important Silurian and Devonian
index fossil
• Characterized by aligned nodes
• Late Devonian to Carboniferous
spicules
Phylum – Bryozoa
5. Genus Archimedes
6. Genus Rhombopora
Bryozoans first appeared in the Early Ordovician Period. The
structure you see in a Bryozoa fossil is the support structure
composed of calcium carbonate. Individual mm size organisms
live in each living chamber (called zooecium). They are sessile,
benthic filter feeders. They live in shallow waters and prefer
clear water as murky water clog the zooecium.
Genus Archimedes
• Late Paleozoic Era only (Mississippian
through Permian
• Named for characteristic screw shape
of the supportive fossilized test
Several Archimedes fossils, note
crinoid head (calyz) in lower left
Genus Rhombopora
• Late Paleozoic Era only (Mississippian
through Permian)
• Branching bryozoa
Note the individual zooecium